I’m excited to announce the launch of the my World Explorer Travel Journal for kids! The World Explorer Travel Journal is the perfect tracking keepsake for documenting and reflecting on your world travels.  This journal providing opportunities for coloring, drawing, and writing about travel experiences […]

Bandelier National Monument is located in north central New Mexico, just a short drive from Albuquerque. As we drove cross country from Idaho to Missouri via Mesa Verde National Park, we chose to take a detour to visit Bandelier. Unfortunately, Mesa Verde did not have […]

I’m excited to announce the launch of the my TRAVEL 50 STATES JOURNAL. This journal is perfect for travelers of all ages: those who want to document each state they visit, those who are working to complete a goal of traveling to every state, and […]

Utah is known for its gorgeous red rocks, and some of the top National and State Parks in the U.S. There is so much to see and do, that you can spend months exploring this state. If you’ve only got a short time to spend […]

The Travel 50 States Journal for Kids is now available for purchase on Amazon.com and Lulu.com. This cute, interactive journal was inspired by my own family’s travels across the United States. As a passionate educator and home school mom, I am always seeking out resources […]

RELEASE DATE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021 I’m excited to announce the launch of the TRAVEL 50 STATES JOURNAL for Kids on Thursday, August 5th, 2021!! This cute, interactive journal for ages 5+ was inspired by my own family’s travels across the United States. As a […]

I am very pleased to announce that I am currently creating a set of Travel Journals and Planners, designed to support this traveling community! The first two products to launch will be the TRAVEL 50 STATES JOURNAL and the TRAVEL 50 STATES JOURNAL for Kids! […]

Travel 50 States participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program.  This program enables us to earn a small fee by linking to amazon.com.  I only recommend products that I believe could enhance your travel experience.  With the Holidays around the corner, it’s a great […]

The Olympic Peninsula, located in Northwestern Washington, is an unforgettable adventure. In one relatively small area, you can visit mountains, ocean, and rain forest in Olympic National Park. Although we designated four full days, we had to carefully pick and choose our stops, in order […]

Coeur D’Alene is a very popular summer resort area. The homes styles are a combination of unique beautiful old homes and properties that need major renovation.  The area seems to be going through a revitalization. We visited Coeur D’Alene twice over the past 4 years, and […]

Located on the border of Northern Idaho and Montana, lies the spectacular Route of the Hiawatha. This popular bike trail covers 15 miles at a gentle downhill grade between 1.6% – 2%. From start to finish, the trail drops approximately 1,000 feet in elevation. HISTORY […]

Las Vegas has always been known as a playground for adults. But, what about vacationing in Vegas with your kids? Check out these FREE seven kid-friendly Las Vegas attractions that will keep the whole family happy: 1. Circus, Circus The famous Circus Circus Hotel and […]

Sedona was one of those places on my bucket list for quite some time, and it definitely delivered the “wow” factor.  I was still unprepared for the sight of the massive red mountains as we approached Sedona. Here are 6 amazing hikes to explore in Sedona, Arizona: […]

Remember back when you were a child, and people constantly asked you: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Adults asking the question wanted you to tell them what job or career you wanted when you grew up. I didn’t really think […]

Travel 50 States website participates in the Amazon Services LLC and Zazzle Associates Program. These programs enables us to earn a small fee by linking to amazon.com and affiliated websites. Kansas can be quite a challenging state to visit if your goal is to hit […]

Having spent so much time RV-ing in Southern California, I discovered that I could buy a non-resident library card for a mere $20 a year.  This gives us access to checking out books, free wifi, and even selected Museum Passes, that grant free entrance for a […]

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve is located in Arco, Idaho. The unique terrain, formed by earthquake activity, appears similar to the moon’s surface. The now-protected basaltic lava field was formed from volcanic lava eruptions over the past 15,000 years. In fact, NASA […]

In these uncertain times, many of us are opting to stay closer to home.  Many people are considering local road trips and stay-cations.  What is a stay-cation you ask?  The search engine Bing describes it as “a vacation spent in one’s home country rather than […]

*This page may contain Amazon and Zazzle Affiliate Links, at no extra cost to you, that help to support this website.  Thanks! Looking for the perfect gift for the Traveler in your life?   Here’s a list of ideas that are sure to be a […]

From waterfalls to national monuments, bison, mountains, quirky attractions, and the Wild West. South Dakota has something for everyone. Here are some places to stop along I-90 through South Dakota.

Never in a million years did I picture Branson, Missouri, as the type of place that would have anything to offer children.  Boy, was I wrong!  You can certainly drop a load of money here, but there are also some free things that the whole family […]

When the opportunity arose for a 5 day trip to New Orleans, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn just how kid-friendly this Mardi Gras town turned out to be! Here are seven kid-friendly activities that we enjoyed while traveling to New Orleans with two energetic little boys.

For the audio version, click below. The boys and I left Eastbourne for a day trip out to Kent, to visit the “Loveliest Castle in the World,” Leeds Castle. It was quite a bit out of the way in the countryside, but being a weekday […]

About one hour east of Brighton, England, is another seaside resort community called Eastbourne, where we spent our final few days of our two month European trip. We rode the bus through the hilly countryside, passing the Three Sister’s Chalk Cliffs along the sea. We […]

After a month and a half of busy touring throughout Iceland, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Eastern England, it was time to head to the seaside.  We left London, and took the train to Brighton, a seaside resort community located on the South Central coast of […]

Virtual resources for travel to Alaska, including virtual reality, 360 videos and other experiences.

Have you ever celebrated a holiday in another country? One holiday that we have spent away from home several times is Halloween. While RVing full time, we celebrated Halloween in two U.S. cities aside from our home in Chicago – San Diego and Albuquerque. Each […]

One treat we had planned for the kids while in London was to take them to see Warner Bros, Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour, where all of the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Not only was our oldest son a huge fan of Harry […]

While we were based in London, we considered a day trip on the Eurorail, the high speed train that travels under the English Channel, which would allow us to visit Paris for the day. Since neither the kids, nor my mother had ever been to […]

Our friends treated us to a tour around London with a cruise on the Thames River, beginning at the Tower of London, and ending at Greenwich.  We loved seeing some of London’s iconic sights from the River, including Big Ben, the London Eye, and Tower […]

As our time in Bath came to an end, we looked forward to the next leg of our trip to one of the greatest cities in the world, London, where we would spend two fabulous weeks. We rented an apartment for the time we stayed […]

As we left Avebury and wound our way toward the Cotswolds, we traveled skinny two lane roads surrounded by trees, barely enough room for one car to pass at a time.  Sometimes the tour bus had to stop completely to allow a driver from the […]

Using Bath as our base, we selected a Mad Max Tour for a long day trip to Stonehenge, the Cotswolds, and the Avebury Stone Circles.  We were extremely happy with both the tour company and the stops on the route.  It was a smaller bus […]

I was extremely excited to arrive in Bath, because this would be a particularly epic part of our trip – my mom would be joining us for two weeks, her first international trip ever, and we’d be touring both the Roman Baths and Stonehenge during […]

“All the world’s a stage,  And all the men and women merely players:  They have their exits and their entrances;  And one man in his time plays many parts.”— As You Like It The long trip from Llandudno, Wales into England was quite a change […]

Our 4 year Nomadiversary is significant because it marks the end of full time travel for us, but certainly not the end of travel. Click below to watch 4 years of our travel highlights: Our boys were 8 and 6 years old when we left […]

While staying in Wales, I was determined to visit one of the area’s Medieval Castles.  Because Conwy was touted as the best preserved, with the added bonus of being able to walk along the remaining town walls, we thought it would be a great choice.  […]

After a week in Ireland, it was time to head to Northern Wales.  We opted to ride the Ferry from Dublin to Holyhead Wales, a two hour journey, because, well, I like variety!  Our destination was the seaside town of Llandudno. I chose this spot […]

Irish Day Tours from Dublin We chose to take a bus tour from the Dublin city center to three sites: Rock of Cashel, Cork City, & Blarney Castle.  We had just missed the date cut off to do the tour to Skellig Island, which was featured […]

We awoke at 4:45 am to catch our flight from Edinburgh to Dublin.  Security was quick and easy.  My 9 year old, who was starting to get used to airport security, made me laugh as he went through the security checkpoint with his hands straight […]

While we were based in Edinburgh, one of the side trips that we wanted to take was to see the famous Loch Ness in Inverness.  So instead of renting a car and attempting to drive on the opposite side of the road, we booked the […]

From Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace is approximately a one mile stroll through the heart of the Old Town of Edinburgh, referred to as The Royal Mile.  These succession of streets were packed with stores, restaurants, and entertainment of all kinds. Holyrood Palace As I […]

Getting to Edinburgh We touched down into Edinburgh, Scotland at 10 am, after a 6:30 am flight from Iceland.  Arriving in Scotland was seamless, and once we passed through customs, we followed the exit signs to the tram. At a kiosk we bought tickets, and […]

About a year and a half ago, we were “done” with the RV life.  Ready to move on, we sold our 40 foot Fleetwood Bounder Motorhome.  However, after 6 months traveling and living without, we realized how much we missed the RV lifestyle.  We decided […]

TIME FRAME We had approximately 2 days to explore Iceland for the first time.  We arrived on an overnight flight from Los Angeles, which landed at approximately 6 a.m. LA time, which is about 1 p.m. Iceland time. In essence, between jet lag and the time […]

So, as I mentioned in my first post about Iceland, our second and only FULL day in Iceland got off to a late start, as jet lag knocked us down a bit.  We set off to explore the Golden Circle, an area of Iceland that […]

We had been talking about visiting the U.K. for about 10 years, but Iceland wasn’t really on my radar.  As I browsed airfare, I kept noticing that the cheapest way to get to Edinburgh was by having a layover in Reykjavik, Iceland.  While this idea […]

You’ve heard it, the old regretful saying “If I had to do it over again, I would have done it differently.” One year ago this week, we almost bought a house and settled down in a brand new place.  But we couldn’t pull the trigger.  […]

Well before we launched into RV travel, the very first book I read on the subject was about a family who took one year off of work to RV with their children.  They set a specific goal to visit every State Capital within the continental […]

We spent 3 glorious weeks in Europe way back in 2005, which seems like a lifetime ago.  That was my first trip overseas, and one of the best times of my life.  At that time, we flew into Paris, spent 3 days touring the Eiffel […]

*Some of these products may contain Amazon or Zazzle Affiliate Links, at no extra cost to you, but help to support this website.  Thanks! When we travel, I love to have a visual of the places we have visited.   It’s always great to have […]

We have been thinking about traveling to a certain destination for many, many years, and have been waiting for the “right” time to execute our plan.   After many hours of discussion and research, we agreed that the timing was right.  But, as I went to […]

There are endless things to do in San Diego.  Here is a list of 21 great ways to spend time in the San Diego sunshine! 1. Cabrillo National Monument Cabrillo National Monument and Statue celebrate the first European to set foot on the West Coast […]

 *Some of these products may contain Amazon or Zazzle Affiliate Links, at no extra cost to you, but help to support this website. It has been over 10 years since our first International trip to Europe, back when I only had to pack and plan […]

One of the most common questions that we are asked is “What do you do about mail while you’re traveling?” It is actually a whole lot easier to manage mail than you may think.  There are a few options out there, but we have recently […]

Sometimes there is nothing I love more than watching good, inspirational travel movie.  Here are some classic travel movies and a few of my favorites: 1. Given The true story of two legendary surfers who take their young family from their home on Kauai to […]

We left Merida, and took the ADO Bus to the city center of Cancun, about a 4 and a half hour journey.  It was pouring rain when we arrived, and my husband, now well practiced at negotiation, bargained a taxi ride to our hotel.  Although […]

Spending time in the capital city of the Yucatan, Merida, was not even on our radar, until our traveling friends brought our attention to a Worldschooling Gathering taking place there in April.  We were very excited about the opportunity to spend time with our friends […]

We used the charming city of Valladolid as a base when visiting the ruins of Ek’Balam.  The ruins site was only about a half hour drive away from the city center. There didn’t seem to be an easy way to catch a Collectivo, so we […]

After spending a week and a half on the gorgeous Riviera Maya, it was time for us to head inland. We set out for the charming city of Valladolid, located in the central Yucatan peninsula.  As we stepped out to Valladolid’s ADO bus station, the […]

After a busy, but fun-filled weekend in Playa Del Carmen, I decided that I wasn’t in the mood to figure out all the details of how to get to the Coba Ruins. Instead, we booked a tour that would take us to Coba and area […]

After we left the beautiful Tulum Ruins and cooled off a bit, we walked toward Playa Pescadores. Our next stop was our Tulum snorkeling boat ride. The kids entertained themselves and many passers-by on our walk, as they belted out more songs from Moana. The beach was […]

When we woke up the morning after our day at the beach in Xpu-Ha, we were unsure about attempting another full day outing to see Tulum in the hot sun.  We decided we’d just do a quick trip there and back, skipping the beach due to […]

A few days after arriving in Playa Del Carmen, we had a reunion with friends that we had met in San Diego at an RV Rally.  Their family joined us for a long weekend in Playa Del Carmen, before we would reunite again in Merida the following […]

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles were all necessary to get us to Mexico.  Once we arrived it became more like Rickshaws, Colectivos, and Motocars.  But I’ll get into that a little later… After spending our life savings on airport food, we stocked up for our almost 5 hour flight from LAX to […]

I decided it was time for me to learn how to make videos and start a Travel 50 States YouTube Channel.  I have begun with a slideshow of photos and short video clips that give a summary of our travels over the last few years. […]